1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method, a management server, and a computer-readable storage medium for supporting the provision of a service desired by a client terminal by adaptively modifying a network topology depending on the properties of the desired service. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method, a management server, and a computer-readable storage medium that are configured such that, if service type information, indicating the type of service desired to be received by a client terminal, is acquired from the client terminal, and status information, indicating the status of one or more service provision servers, is acquired from the one or more service provision servers, a process for acquiring, with reference to a database, network configuration information required by the client terminal to be provided with a service from a specific service provision server, among the one or more service provision servers, as information corresponding to the service type information and the status information, and a process for supporting network configuration such that the client terminal configures a network based on the network configuration information, by transmitting the acquired network configuration information to the client terminal, are performed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various types of technologies enabling data to be transmitted/received between remote users over a network have been developed. In particular, as three-dimensional (3D) virtual reality rendering technology has recently been developed, a need for technology that enables realistic data to be exchanged between remote users has increased. Such technology is expected to be utilized in various fields, such as military affairs, medical treatment, industrial design, and game fields.
Generally, realistic data may be composed of various types of data, such as image (or video) data, audio data, and haptic data, and may require physical server resources to process a virtual reality screen or require streaming service resources to transmit/receive video data. In this way, an environment for realistic data transmission/reception is more complicated in the aspect of data configuration and service properties than a typical data transmission/reception environment.
Therefore, when a conventional fixed network topology is used, a problem arises in that efficiency is deteriorated in a realistic data exchange environment in which the transmission/reception of various types of data is performed in various forms.
For example, a service in which low-capacity messages are exchanged in a 1:1 manner between a plurality of users may be managed by a P2P server (e.g. Napster service). When screen rendering indicating a virtual space is required in the realistic data exchange environment, a P2P server for sending low-capacity messages may be unsuitable for the processing of large-capacity data required for screen rendering.
Therefore, it can be seen that, in order for a plurality of users to transmit/receive and process various types of realistic data in real time therebetween, a more flexible network topology is required.
Therefore, the present applicant has devised technology capable of adaptively modifying a network topology depending on the properties of a service desired to be received by a client terminal in a realistic data transmission/reception environment, and then rapidly and efficiently transmitting/receiving realistic data.